Bill Shorten has pitched the next election as the Labor "team" versus one man - Malcolm Turnbull.
The opposition leader gave a pep talk to the Labor caucus in Canberra on Tuesday as speculation heightened about an early double-dissolution election.
Mr Shorten said the prime minister was "quite a bright fellow", but did not have a team behind him.
"I think his fear of losing his popularity, his anxiety not to be, you know, clapped on the back, is dimming his mind and it means that he's not doing what he said he would do," he said.
"We need to use that as an example to us.
"When people ... do not act as a team, and they are not acting as a team, then they're no better than anyone else and no one person's popularity can mask all these difficulties.
"I think Labor's greatest strength is when we don't give up being a team."
Mr Turnbull has had a consistently higher personal approval and preferred prime minister rating than Mr Shorten since the ousting of Tony Abbott in September.
However, the latest Newspoll has the coalition and Labor running 50-50 in two-party preferred terms.
Mr Shorten told the caucus the election "is there for the winning" but it would take a team effort.
"We've ticked the boxes of being a strong opposition ... now it is time for us to start ticking the boxes of being an alternative government."
He predicted the Liberal-Nationals coalition would throw the kitchen sink at Labor, running a scare campaign on the party's union links and its negative gearing policy.
The government is weighing up whether to call an early poll in July or run full-term with an election between August and October.
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